Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, suspended his campaign operations on Wednesday in an 11-minute video that blended denial of sexual assault allegations with attacks on party establishment figures. The announcement came after a woman accused him of drunkenly forcing her to have sex, an allegation Platner called false.
Platner's Graceless Exit
In the video, recorded outside his Maine home at 4pm, Platner appeared with aides including Ben Chin and Morris Katz, a 27-year-old adviser to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. According to Politico, several close advisers urged Platner to strike a conciliatory tone, but he insisted on being allowed to assail establishment Democrats as a condition of dropping out.
Platner began with a deep sigh, dressed in a grey T-shirt with tousled hair and a bushy moustache and beard, against a backdrop of a grey fence and tall trees. He claimed the allegations were false and blamed "larger forces" and a "corporate media system and political establishment" for acting as "judge, jury and executioner."
Reaction from Democrats and Observers
Emily's List responded on X: "11 minutes and zero accountability." Political strategist David Axelrod wrote that Platner played the martyr, adding, "Platner built an admirable movement. But there was nothing admirable about the way he said goodbye." Donald Trump commented, "It's really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods."
Platner's exit leaves Democrats with a narrow window to field a replacement against Republican Senator Susan Collins, a top target in the November fight for the Senate. The campaign had begun 323 days earlier with a glossy video showing Platner farming oysters and chopping wood.
